La venganza de los muñecos 3

A severe backwards step for the puppets in this mainly dull and tedious outing. Guy Rolfe, so fantastic as Andre Toulon in part three barely features this time and Richard Band's fantastical them tune appears with the puppets a fair few minutes in to the film. For the start of the movie we are introduced to the caretaker of Bodega Bay Inn (Gordon Currie) and some youth friends of his (many of the cast are Canadian and are all very good in unfortunately rather undemanding roles - Teresa Hill is quite yummy). Totems, minions of the Egyptian God Sutek want the secret of animation life back and the puppets (when they surface) act with a previously unseen cleverness to attempt to destroy the ugly and very computer game looking Totems. The Totems merely complicate the series and distract from the things that previously made the series so unique - they don't share the weird beauty of the puppets and thus don't really fit in. Top scene is Pinhead using a rag to clean blood from Tunnelers drill bit, classic and about the goriest this film goes. The fifth film was filmed concurrently with this one so expect similar sections of mediocre and a Toulon performance that seems to have been filmed in a different era (or even galaxy). Guy Rolfe deserved better and series fans certainly do. Grrrrrrr.

The ancient demon God Sutek is finally angry enough that Andre Toulon (Guy Rolfe) stole his life-giving formula that it sends some demons (tiny, of course) to the "upperworld" to get those responsible. Somehow that means scientists from a Government company, despite them having nothing to do with it. Who is involved is kid genius Rick Myers (Gordon Currie), who has discovered the puppets while doing his experiments at the Bodega Bay Inn while acting as a caretaker. Running only 75 minutes, this mess of a film actually has 5 screenwriters credited with the nonsense plot. The main point seems to be about resurrecting new puppet Decapitron (a hold over idea from Band's Empire days) and Toulon telling Rick he is the new puppet master. About the only good thing in the film is the stop motion work by Dave Allen and his crew, but it seems to be less and less with each entry. This marks a turning point with the tiny terrors being full blown good guys now. This was also the first in the PM series to feature no nudity. PUPPET MASTER 4 came out in November 1993 and the fifth entry, despite being filmed back-to-back, came out almost a year later in September 1994. Felton Perry has two scenes as a murdered scientist.

I remember not particularly caring much for the rest of Full Moon's direct-to-video Puppet Master films that followed on after third instalment, but I managed to come across Parts 4 and 5. I had inkling to see if I still felt the same way and after getting through the fourth film it was actually better than I remembered. Nevertheless I didn't really liked how the puppets are turned into the good guys (although you could say that was the case in the third film, but I preferred that one's revenge angle) facing off against a Sutek the ancient Eygptian God and its minions that can control totems, but credit is due to somewhat (as some familiar staples do crop up) not completely repeating itself. Directed by Jeff Burr (a regular to the genre and to sequels… who would also direct the back-to-back made filth film), does quite competently polished if mechanical job, knowing that it's the puppets themselves that are the main attraction, as the animation is well-executed and the personalities of each one of them standing out with Blade taking centre stage. I always find something unsettling about the puppet Six Shooter and his laugh and again it's no exception here. The only two that didn't appear were leech woman and torch.

The whole angle has the puppets finding a new master and protecting him from the demon who wants to destroy the late Andre Toulon's work and the tone has kind of changed, while some dark glimmers I didn't find it all that creepy (with nastiness mainly occurring off-screen) and even the cliff side hotel they occupy doesn't have that dominating presence either. Some instances fell on the funny side, but the change of pace and whole drama moves by quick enough. Also it looked like it had a little more money behind it and Richard Band chimes in with an airy, majestic score. Reasonable performances by Gordon Currie and Chandra West in the leads with Guy Rolfe returning as Andre Toulon.

PUPPET MASTER 4 is certainly the best of the PUPPET MASTER series. Gordon Currie, Chandra West, and Guy Rolfe star in this horror film of incredible proportions. Never has anything like this ever been done before, were you take the villains from previous legendary horror films and make them the victims and the ones in need of help.

In my regards, this is one of the best horror films of the early 90's, and I recommend it to anyone with interest in horror films or if you liked the original PUPPET MASTER movies.

Not much else can be said about this film. It is probably a certainty that if you liked the series, you will like this movie, though.

PUPPET MASTER 4 gets 4/5.

The notorious Bodega Bay Inn is now inhabited by a whiz-kid science major named Rick Myers who is working for an elite team of scientists in hopes of finding out the secret of artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, in Hell, at the EXACT SAME MOMENT, a legion of evil rubbery demons send a horde of minions to the surface to kill anyone who has anything to do with Andre Toulon's elixir of animation. It certainly would be bad luck if Rick just happened to stumble upon a vial of the damning potion, now wouldn't it? Even though the plot of this particular chapter in the Puppet Master series is razor-thin and the acting stays consistently mundane throughout, it has a certain flair that most of the other entries don't. The puppets are much more likeable this time around, and their movements, although not as detailed or complex, are a lot more amusing and believable.